Towards the convergence of refugies, migrants and sans papiers´ struggles in Europe

30.Nov.99 - Fullfilling their freedom of movement, undocumented refugees and migrants (Sans Papiers) and members of support groups from France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the UK, Finland, the USA met together at the Noborder camp in Strasbourg in July 2002 to support the struggles of migrants.

The desperate situations faced by refugees and the brutal immigration regimes faced by detained asylum seekers serve to extend their oppression rather than offer asylum from the situations they fled. Most importantly, we recognize that migrants who seek legalisation in Europe are often fleeing situations that Western industrialised countries helped to create through economic exploitation, political and military intervention.

The situation is the same across different nations: migrants face the worst exploitation of the capitalist system, but making them illegal serves to make their situation invisible, and therefore also hides the worst abuses of the system. Their repression and scapegoating is what we see as criminal.

As repression is harmonized across the european territory, each point of resistance to the attack on migrants and the degradation of their rights is important, and we must make links between these points of resistance. Sharing our tactics of survival and resistance, our experience of opposition and of actions is the new mutual aid. Refugees, the undocumented and legal citizens whatever our nationalities, cultures or languages must unite to fight for the rights of migrants here, and support struggles for justice in countries of origin.

We are sharing our experiences of particular fights. These experiences come out of different local political contexts and diverse migratory histories, but from these arise common clear and basic objectives.

We demand:

• freedom of movement
• unconditional legalization of the Sans Papier (undocumented people)
• defence of the right to asylum
• an end to all deportation
• the closure of all detention centres and freedom of those imprisoned
• an end to the dispersal system and any restrictions on residency (such as in Germany)
• the removal of conditions on permission to stay (such as a contract for work)
• an end to precarious and short-term legal permits
• the abolition of any restrictions on movement or association
• abolition of the double penalty (as exists in Belgium and France)
• the right to dignity and a decent life for all.

An important aim of this international bordercamp has been to exchange experiences and ideas from different perspectives in order to develop new practical strategies of resistance and to end the isolation of struggles. We must unite as refugees, migrants, workers (legal or `illegal´) and citizens... of the world.